The Pedowitz Gambling Report was released by the NBA today. Named for it’s author Lawrence B. Pedowitz, the report covers the league’s anti-gambling rules, policies, procedures, and its officiating program. Pedowitz, a former U.S. Attorney, was appointed by the NBA to review and make recommendations on these matters in the wake of the indictment and guilty plea of former referee, Tim Donaghy. Following a 14-month investigation, the 133-page report has been released, and reflects the recommendations and other findings by Pedowitz and his colleagues.
The Press Release from the NBA summarizes the reported findings:
· He found no evidence that any NBA referee other than Mr. Donaghy bet
on NBA games or leaked confidential NBA information to gamblers, and no
evidence that phone calls between referee Scott Foster and Donaghy were
attributable to criminal activity.· He found no evidence that any referee miscalled a game to favor a
particular team or player, or that the League has asked referees to call
games to favor particular teams or players.· He found no evidence to support specific allegations of game
manipulation or misconduct made by Mr. Donaghy and his attorney in June
2008, including allegations regarding a 2005 playoff series between the
Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets and a 2002 playoff series between
the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings.· He found that a number of referees engaged in forms of gambling other
than betting on NBA games, in violation of League rules. The League
previously decided not to discipline referees for these violations.
So it sounds like everything is above board, nothing bad happened, move along. I guess it is a good thing they brought in a professional for this.
Pedowitz continued with some recommendations for the future, in other words, these things are currently broken :
· Strengthening the NBA’s anti-gambling rules, particularly with respect to the disclosure of confidential information.
· Improving the enforcement of these rules and creating a “culture of compliance” among all league and team employees, including through the reorganization of the management of the referee program and the creation of an anonymous hotline for gambling information.
· Increasing the league’s monitoring of games for suspicious activity.
· Increasing the league’s efforts to eliminate the perception of referee bias, including by making more information publicly available about the referee program and increasing access to the referees by fans and media.
The NBA is full of CHEATers
Chester Cheater
No evidence? You have to be kidding me. As Steve Czaben said on his blog, “This story, is NOT dead. Not by a long shot. Because if you think ONLY Tim Donaghy was involved, then I have some real estate to sell you.” Of course others were involved, of course referees miscalled games to favor players and teams, and of course Donaghy manipulated the playoffs, they just won’t admit it.
Let us just look at some facts that this report must have ignored, Pregame.com reports the following :
The first 15 games of the 2006-07 season refereed by Tim Donaghy that had big enough betting to move the point spread by at least 1.5 points were UNDEFEATED against Las Vegas - meaning that the big-money gamblers won 15 of 15 times on his games. The odds of that happening randomly are 32,768 to 1.
Donaghy called Foster 134 times from October 2006 through April 2007. The investigation was satisfied with the reason behind the calls being friendship between the men, even though - according to Fox Sports - the calls “stopped abruptly” when Donaghy is believed to have stopped gambling.
During the 2006-07 period under investigation, TEN games refereed by Scott Foster had lopsided enough betting on one team to move the point spread by at least 2 points; those ten teams were UNDEFEATED against Vegas - meaning that the big-money gamblers won a perfect 10 of 10 times on Foster’s games; the odds of that happening randomly are greater than 1000 to 1 against!
So the honorable Mr. Pedowitz releases this previously known nugget about referees engaging in other forms of gambling, to try to keep us happy? Its not enough. Your investigation was a sham, and nobody is buying it.
Does anyone else notice that David Stern pictured above bears a striking resemblance to the Iraqi Information Minister? “There are no cheating infidels in the NBA. Never!”
So what do you think? Do you agree with the report, or do you agree with Chester that the league is fixed and full of CHEATing?
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